After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory Academy’s Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Brian Camagay, 5, left, pounds on bongos during music class. Parents and former board members have started their own school, Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Music teacher Jevon McGlory dances with Brian Camagay, 5, left, at Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year in Chino, Calif. After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory AcademyÕs Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory Academy’s Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Brian Camagay, 5, left, pounds on bongos during music class. Parents and former board members have started their own school, Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Music teacher Jevon McGlory dances with Brian Camagay, 5, left, at Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year in Chino, Calif. After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory AcademyÕs Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Music teacher Jevon McGlory addresses his music class with enthusiasm at Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year in Chino, Calif. After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory AcademyÕs Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Music teacher Jevon McGlory high fives students during music class at Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year in Chino, Calif. After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory AcademyÕs Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive students bang on the piano after pounding on the bongos at the Chino, Calif. school. After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory AcademyÕs Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Andrew Vestey and daughter Madison, 7, walk through Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year in Chino, Calif. After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory AcademyÕs Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Andrew Vestey and daughters Madison, 7, bottom, and Paige, 9, at the girl’s school, Allegiance STEAM Academy-Thrive, which opened this school year in Chino, Calif. After more than a year of drama, Oxford Preparatory AcademyÕs Chino, Calif. campus finally closed last year. Photographed on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

In July 2017, the school at 5862 C Street in Chino shut down for good. Last month, the doors reopened for the first day of classes at a new school. Well, mostly new.

Allegiance STEAM Academy isn’t Oxford Preparatory Academy. But the K-8 charter school occupies Oxford’s campus, has teachers and staff from its predecessor, and many of its students had attended Oxford before Oxford closed its Chino campus after a scandal involving its founder.

“At every opportunity, we’ve been real clear that no one’s here to reopen a school,” said CEO Sebastian Cognetta. “It’s a new school, and already the families that do have a history here are taking note of that; there’s a different feel to this place.”

About 40 percent of the school’s 480 students previously attended Oxford. A total of 1,000 students applied for slots, and students were chosen by lottery. Next year, the enrollment cap will go up to 660 students when the school adds transitional kindergarten. If their charter is renewed beyond that, it may be raised further, according to Andrew Vestey, chairman of the school’s board.

A handful of former Oxford employees and teachers also work at the new school.

“When we had that vision to create the school, we didn’t want to create the exact same thing, we wanted to put our own spin on it,” said Vestey, who previously was president of the Oxford school board. “There were very good things about Oxford, but then there were also things that, you know, parents didn’t like.”

There have been efforts to create something similar to Oxford’s culture and community, along with a focus on personalized learning, STEAM (“science, technology, engineering, arts and math“) education, and social-emotional learning. But Oxford Preparatory had offered its students Chinese, French and Latin instruction. That’s been changed to Chinese and Spanish at Allegiance.

“It’s not a continuation of anything else. It’s a new school,” Cognetta said.

A proposed new Oxford Preparatory charter school in Chino was shot down by the Chino Valley Unified school board in November 2017.

Oxford still has two campuses in Orange County, which are chartered by Capistrano Unified and Saddleback Valley Unified.

In July 2018, Capistrano Unified staff recommended the revocation of their Oxford campus’ charter, writing in a report that “OPA has failed to meet generally accepted accounting principles, engaged in fiscal mismanagement, and committed material violations of the conditions, standards, and procedures set forth in its charter.”

Instead of revoking the charter, Capistrano Unified ended up signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the school that placed more restrictions on its financial operations.

The shadow of Oxford’s past — and the likelihood that Allegiance will have more eyes on it than most charter schools — didn’t dissuade Cognetta from taking the top job at Allegiance. The school and Chino Valley Unified have a good relationship, he said.

“Charters have kind of shot themselves in the foot in the last 20 years,” he said. “I’ve been an advocate of accountability and oversight. It’s necessary.”

Beau Yarbrough wrote his first newspaper article taking on an authority figure (his middle school principal) when he was in 7th grade. He’s been a professional journalist since 1992, working in Virginia, Egypt and California. In that time, he’s covered community news, features, politics, local government, education, the comic book industry and more. He’s covered the war in Bosnia, interviewed presidential candidates, written theatrical reviews, attended a seance, ridden in a blimp and interviewed both Batman and Wonder Woman (Adam West and Lynda Carter). He also cooks a mean pot of chili.